Homosexual panic: a review of its concept

This paper traces the origin of the term "homosexual panic" when it was first described in 1920 to the Freudian bisexual theory of sexual development and the concepts of repressed and latent homosexuality, and questions the appropriateness of this term when used to diagnose as well as to describe different situations. Concerns are raised especially when dealing with conditions ranging from violent behaviour to outright psychotic episodes. Homosexual panic is also compared with pseudohomosexuality, and finally correlated with society's homophobic attitudes.